By Bill Connell, Somerset.

A confluence of things has me in a thoughtful mood.   Let me share. 

I recently heard a toe tapping ditty called “I hate, hate”.  It occurred to me though it’s preaching to the choir.  It’s a great message but it’s not like some punk is going to think “oh, I’m not supposed to hate?” It will go right over their head.

 Once again, the Jewish community was given angst by the National Day of Hate. Do you really think movements like this will change with a song or a politician saying “Come on guys, be nice”

That said, you always need to try, you always need to push forward. Good always must outweigh evil.   Just be realistic about what you can accomplish.

Then we have school fighting.  This is nothing new but Covid and the internet have made the schools have to deal with an above average amount of sociological issues that distract from education.  The problem is, going to Covid era the theme of schools was patience and tolerance.  This sets up a culture that leaves teacher and administrators with limited tools to deal with extremes

This fighting is not unique to Franklin. I personally think schools at the state level should be given new tools to deal with such things.  They should not be left to improvise and dance around statistics.  For any child who fights, the parents or guardian should be charged with theft of services from the custodian who must clean up the blood to the Superintendent who must deal with it.  They could be doing something better and productive.

Patience and tolerance is great but for every kid you save there is a another one that says “hey I can get away with that” 

FRA makes a nice headline but Mr. Grippo is correct , 98 percent just carry on with their day.  This too will pass but the tools (all) schools have to deal with such things needs to be looked at.